Colour Beginnings is music composed by Tim Whitehead from transcribed improvisations which were originally recorded in front of, and inspired by JMW Turner's watercolour sketches, while Whitehead was artist in residence at Tate Britain in 2009.
In days that's past beyond our ken When painters saw like other men The music sang the voice of truth Yet sigh'd for painting's homely truth - JMW Turner
CD includes 16 page booklet of Turner watercolour sketches which inspired the music.
"You don't need to know that UK saxophonist Tim Whitehead has been a fan of Turner's paintings since he found himself crying in front of one many years back. Nor that injury in 2006 gave him the time to ponder a musical tribute to the painter. Nor even that this project made him the first musician to be an artist in residence at Tate Britain. No, Whitehead's music always stands on its own feet. His bands are consistently fine examples of attractively song-rooted composing and cutting-edge postbop improv, and his collaborations with Liam Noble inspire some of the gifted pianist's most memorable recorded playing. But the triggers here are transcribed from Whitehead's original solo improvisations recorded while viewing Turner's work - particularly the painter's fastest and most intuitive sketches and watercolours. Some of the music unfolds in twisting, long-lined themes, some in softly exhaled solo-sax reveries; there are skittish dancing melodies and speculative group conversations that suggest Wayne Shorter's musings. Noble often echoes Whitehead or plays in unison - and, like all the performers, he plays as deeply inside these pieces as if he were as personally involved as their originator." The Guardian
Artist Joseph Mallord William Turner
Artwork The Straw Yard, engraved by Charles Turner
